The 6th Parliament of the Province of Canada was summoned in January 1858, following the general election for the Legislative Assembly in December 1857. Sessions were held in Toronto in 1858 and then in Quebec City from 1859. The Parliament was dissolved in May 1861.
The 1858 parliamentary session was one of the longest and nastiest in Canadian history, opening in January 1858, just as news arrived from London that Queen Victoria had chosen Ottawa as the permanent seat for the Canadian government. In August 1858 the Macdonald-Cartier ministry carried out the divisive "double shuffle" that allowed the ministry to stay in power without facing by-elections.
The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly was Sir Henry Smith.
Electoral system
Each voter could cast as many votes as there were seats to fill in the district (First-past-the-post voting).
Montreal and Quebec City elected three members; Toronto elected two members. All others elected just one member. (Previous to the next election, all districts were changed to single-member districts.)
Canada East - 65 seats
Canada West - 65 seats
References
- Ged Martin, John A. Macdonald: Canada's first prime minister (Toronto: Dundurn, 2013), p. 19
- Double Shuffle https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/double-shuffle
- Parliamentary Guide
- election was declared invalid after an appeal; John Joseph Caldwell Abbott was declared elected in March 1860 after an inquiry by a committee of the Legislative Assembly.
- election was declared invalid; Charles-François Fournier was declared elected in June 1858.
- election was declared invalid; Lewis Thomas Drummond was elected in a by-election in October 1858.
- died in office in 1858; George Caron was elected in a by-election in December 1858.
- election was declared invalid in April 1860; Pierre-Gabriel Huot was elected in a by-election in May 1860.
- formerly Sherbrooke (county) and Wolfe
- defeated in a by-election in Shefford in September 1858 after he was appointed to cabinet; Asa Belknap Foster was elected to the seat.
- resigned his seat to run for a seat on the Legislative Council; Jean-Baptiste Mongenais was elected in a by-election in November 1860.
- resigned after being elected to the Legislative Council in 1858; Hugh Finlayson was elected in a by-election in 1858.
- missing from 1 December 1859; body discovered in Don River. He was murdered.
- resigned his seat in August 1858; Michael Harcourt was elected in an October 1858 by-election
- resigned after being elected to the Legislative Council in 1860; Hope Fleming Mackenzie was elected to the seat in a by-election in 1860.
- died in 1858; Ogle Robert Gowan was elected in a by-election later that year.
- resigned after being elected to the Legislative Council in 1860; J.C. Rykert was elected to the seat in a by-election in 1860.
- died in March 1860; Robert Craik was elected to his seat in 1860.
- died in June 1858; Angus Peter McDonald was elected to his seat in 1858.
- George Brown, elected in both North Oxford and Toronto, chose to sit for Toronto; William McDougall elected in a May 1858 by-election
- resigned his seat to allow William Cayley to be elected in a by-election held in March 1858.
- election declared fraudulent in October 1859; John W Loux elected in a December 1859 by-election.
- election appealed;James Ross was elected in an 1859 by-election.
- died in November 1859; Adam Wilson was elected to his seat in 1860.
- formerly South York; prior to that, 1st York
- Upper Canadian politics in the 1850s, Underhill (and others), University of Toronto Press (1967)
- Côté, George Oliver (1860). Political appointments and elections in the province of Canada. 1841 to 1860. St. Michael & Darveau.
External links
- Ontario's parliament buildings ; or, A century of legislation, 1792-1892 : a historical sketch
- Assemblée nationale du Québec (French)
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